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Experian’s fraud victim assistance process
If you are a victim of fraud or identity theft, or have reason to believe you are at increased risk, simply take the following steps to protect your credit history.
Step 1
Contact Experian’s National
Consumer Assistance Center
• You can visit Experian’s online fraud center or call its automated voice attendant 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Experian’s Website address is www.experian.com. Its toll-free telephone number is 1 888 EXPERIAN
(1 888 397 3742).
• A temporary Initial Security Alert can be added immediately to your credit file. This alerts creditors to take additional precautions before extending new credit. You also may provide a telephone number at which a lender can contact you before granting credit.
• When you add an Initial Security
Alert, Experian removes your name from prescreened credit solicitation lists for six months.
• You may request a free credit report to be mailed, or you can access your credit report immediately if you add the Initial Security Alert online.
• A Federal Trade Commission — approved summary of identity theft victims’ rights is provided.

Be aware that the presence of a security alert or victim statement should not interfere with your daily use of a credit card or banking/checking accounts. A security alert or victim statement may limit your ability to obtain instant credit for in-store purchases. If you prefer to purchase items on a new line of credit established at a retail store and you must take possession of those items immediately, your request for credit may be delayed because of the additional authentication steps needed to verify your identity and prevent fraud.
• Experian notifies the other nationwide consumer credit reporting companies that you requested an Initial Security
Alert. The other companies then add a similar alert to their files and send a confirmation directly to you.
Step 2
Review your credit report; add a fraud victim alert
• Once you get your credit report, review it carefully for fraudulent information.
• If there are signs of fraud, you immediately can dispute the information online or you can call the telephone number provided with the report. When you call, you can enter disputes using the automated system or say “agent” to receive assistance.
• The Experian credit report also includes creditor contact information to help consumers remove the fraudulent account information from the creditor’s records.
• Upon submitting an Identity Theft
Report and documentation to verify your identity and telephone number, you may have an Extended Fraud
Victim Alert added to your credit file. The Extended Fraud Victim
Alert remains for seven years. It tells creditors that you are a fraud victim and asks that creditors contact you at a telephone number you specify before granting credit.
• When you add an Extended Fraud
Victim Alert, your name will be removed from prescreened credit solicitation lists for five years, and you can ask for up to two complimentary credit reports within 12 months after you request the alert.
• Experian notifies the other nationwide consumer credit reporting companies that you requested an Extended Fraud
Victim Alert. Equifax and TransUnion then add similar alerts to their files.
Step 3
Experian initiates an investigation and removes fraudulent information
• Experian notifies the creditors or data furnishers of alleged fraudulent items, typically through an immediate, electronic information transfer.
• Experian must complete an investigation involving fraudulent information within 30 days. If the data contributor cannot verify information as accurate within the statutory deadlines, Experian’s systems delete or update the information and prevent reappearance of the data disputed by the consumer as inaccurate.
• However, information can be replaced as allowed by law if the creditor certifies the information was correct as reported.
Experian blocks any information in a consumer’s credit file that resulted from alleged identity theft when the consumer supplies appropriate proof of identity, a copy of a valid Identity
Theft Report, identification of the specific disputed information and a statement that the information is not related to a transaction made by the consumer.
Step 4
Experian notifies creditors and other nationwide credit reporting companies
• Experian notifies the creditor if data the creditor reported is blocked, deleted or modified as the result of a request accompanied by an Identity
Theft Report. The Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) requires creditors to take steps to prevent reinserting the data.
• Experian shares requests to block fraudulent data and information disputed as fraudulent with the other nationwide credit reporting companies.
Experian’s fraud prevention and detection tools
• Initial Security Alert — Experian offers consumers who have reason to believe they may be victims of fraud the ability to place a temporary fraud alert statement on the file. This alert is transmitted to all users of consumer credit reports. Its purpose is to alert creditors that a consumer recently has been victimized or has a time-sensitive concern about identity theft. The alert will be deleted automatically when

• Active Duty Alert — Experian offers members of the U.S. military who are on active duty the opportunity to add an Active Duty Alert to their credit history to help protect them from potential fraud and identity theft. An Active Duty Alert remains for one year and notifies creditors that the consumer is a member of the
U.S. military currently on active duty, enabling them to take appropriate precautions to prevent fraud. When an Active Duty Alert is added, the credit report is removed from prescreen solicitations for two years.
• Security Freeze — Consumers nationwide can now freeze their credit files. Doing so will prevent businesses, with some exceptions, from accessing a consumer’s credit report unless the consumer first removes the freeze using a personal identification number provided by
Experian. Fraud victims can freeze their credit files free of charge. There is a nominal fee for nonvictims. Prices and requirements vary by state.
• Assistance is offered when new types of victimization occur, such as fraud victim assistance for immigrants and minors, or when organizations are struck by “mass fraud.”
• Experian guards information on personal credit reports so the reports cannot be used to commit fraud.
Those measures include truncating account numbers and omitting correct Social Security numbers from reports when they are sent to consumers so that the information cannot be used to commit fraud if it is intercepted.
• Experian employees who express a desire to advance within the National
Consumer Assistance Center must enter into a career progression program. One of the first steps in the program is fraud victim assistance training. This training provides an incentive for consumer assistance personnel to understand and better address concerns of fraud victims and expands our pool of highly qualified resources available to help consumers.
• From consumer advocates to frontline law enforcement officers, Experian works proactively with organizations dealing with the crime of identity theft.
For more information, visit www.experianplc.com or email us at consumer.education@experian.com. it expires. This type of fraud prevention may be extended to a seven-year fraud victim alert.
• Extended Fraud Victim Alert —
Experian offers consumers who are victims of fraud the opportunity to place a long-term fraud prevention statement on their consumer file when they submit a valid Identity
Theft Report. The Extended Fraud
Victim Alert warns creditors that the consumer has been victimized.
Experian offers consumers the ability to place two telephone numbers in the victim statement so creditors can call the consumer at a designated daytime or evening number when the creditor is processing a potentially fraudulent credit application.
Continuous improvement of Experian’s fraud victim assistance
• Educational materials from Experian help consumers better understand how credit reporting works and how to prevent identity theft or recover from victimization.
• Experian’s Internet Fraud Center at www.experian.com provides a wealth of information to consumers and fraud victims. Visitors to the Internet
Fraud Center can view frequently asked questions and learn more about identity theft and the processes involved with victim assistance, as well as add an Initial Security Alert or Active Duty Alert.
• An automated telephone attendant provides customer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. This system allows victims to notify Experian and initiate protection regardless of the time of day.

Experian
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Allen, TX 75013 www.experian.com
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